An example of the above-described container transport facility is disclosed in JP 2012-044033A (Patent Document 1). With the container transport facility disclosed in Patent Document 1, a storage portion that stores a container is included on the lateral side of a movement route on which the transport moving body moves, and the inert gas supply apparatus supplies the inert gas to the container stored in the storage portion. Thus, with the container transport facility disclosed in Patent Document 1, by including the inert gas supply apparatus, the inert gas can be supplied to the interior of the container using the period of storing the container in the storage portion.
To give additional description, the transport moving body includes a transport support portion by which the upper portion of the container is supported in a hanging manner, and an elevation driving portion that raises and lowers the transport support portion. The storage portion includes a storage support portion that supports the lower surface portion of the container from below, and a slide driving portion that causes the storage support portion to move in a sliding manner in the horizontal direction.
Also, the storage support portion supports the connection portion of the inert gas supply apparatus, and the bottom surface portion of the container includes a connected portion. In the state in which the bottom surface portion of the container is supported from below by the storage support portion, the connection portion of the inert gas supply apparatus is connected to the connected portion of the container, and thus the inert gas can be supplied to the interior of the container.
Also, in the state in which the transport moving body is stopped at a transport stopping position set on the lateral side of the storage portion, the storage portion causes the storage support portion to protrude using the slide driving portion, whereafter the transport moving body raises and lowers the transport support portion using the elevation driving portion, and thereafter the storage portion retracts the storage support portion using the slide driving portion so as to store the container in the storage portion or take the container from the storage portion.